


A Casual Touch

by BandaBecca



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-31
Updated: 2018-03-31
Packaged: 2019-04-16 06:45:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14159085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BandaBecca/pseuds/BandaBecca
Summary: After the events of Adamant, Inquisitor Lavellan and her crew struggle to keep moving forward. Haunted by dreams of what she saw, the Inquisitor finds she isn't alone...





	A Casual Touch

**Author's Note:**

> A story of Inquisitor Olivier (oh-LIV-ee-ay).
> 
> Check out my bandabecca tumblr for more!
> 
> Enjoy, and thank you for reading!

The company was ecstatic as they moved from Adamant fortress back to Skyhold. All except Cassandra, Varric, Dorian, and me. The soldiers didn’t know what had really happened in the Fade, and only Josephine, Leliana, and Cullen had heard the truth so far. And they’d been casting the four of us worried glances the whole journey.

We stayed in a tight group, not speaking much. If they were anything like me, they alternated between trying to make sense of what we had seen, and trying to forget it had ever happened. To figure out why we all still felt so heavy and afraid. None of us slept much the first night, and now on the second, we kept our tents in a tight cluster with only my advisors joining the circle. The others who had stormed the fortress with us were not far away, drinking and celebrating since apparently they hadn’t done enough of it last night. We went to our tents at the same time with a silent nod, having mutually decided that we couldn’t stay awake for the rest of forever. 

I stared at the soft red fabric of the ceiling of my tent, the light from the fire outside casting flickering patterns over everything. I rubbed my palms across the blanket over my chest, smoothing the fabric and taking deep breaths. ‘It’ll be fine. You’ll dream of the Clan.’ I whispered to myself. ‘Just dream of the Clan.’

I closed my eyes and saw Stroud falling to his knees in front of the nightmare as it descended on him. 

I snapped my eyes open and sighed. I roughly turned to my side, pulling the blanket over my shoulder, distracting myself by focusing my mind on the old weaving patterns we used to create the wreaths for the autumn hunting celebration. I closed my eyes slower this time. 

 

We ran, all six of us, cresting the top of the hill, realising the nightmares had caught up to us and we’d have to stand and fight.

I heard their rattling screeches before I saw them, bony fingers reaching over the edge and digging into the loose soil before pulling up the rest of their bodies, rotting flesh breaking away from their bones and fluttering to the ground.

Five came over at once, and my hands tightened on the hilts of my daggers. It was the Keeper, her apprentice, and our three lead hunters from Clan Levellan. A squeak forced its way out of my lungs.

Varric saw my hesitation. ‘The Nightmare is manipulating you, V. Not real!’ He loosed an arrow, the springing sound pulling me back to the realisation that the Nightmare was catering my visions special for me. And I was letting him.

I sprung forward, cutting the head off my old Keeper. I shuddered as her head tumbled back down the hill, bouncing and spinning wildly before turning to dust. I turned back to the figures as a sixth came over the edge. My sister’s child, Rhyne. I lost my footing and fell backward, his small, decaying fingers clawing at my boot. I grit my teeth, and with a shout, I plunged the blade into his eye, his form folding around it before blowing away in a non-existent wind.

 

I sat up with a gasping scream. My hair was wet with sweat, covering my face like the fingers of the dead. I swiped my hand across my forehead to push it aside and scrambled out of the tent, almost falling over the requisitions table in my rush. I caught myself with a hand on the edge, the other against my forehead, my breath fluttering the hair over my face. I stared at my bare feet, toes digging softly into the grass as if it could ground me, too afraid to close my eyes even for a moment in case the images came back. I turned my body to lean back against the table, gaze rising to the camp. I wasn’t the only one awake. Cullen was leaned out of his tent, eyes on me in alarm. When our gazes met, it was clear in the twitch of his eyebrows that he knew. 

He stooped to pull himself out of the tent fully and moved toward me, steps slow, unsure.

But then I heard heavy breathing behind me. I looked back. Dorian’s tent. The breathing became more sporadic, words more pronounced. ‘Back. Get back. Get back!’

I moved for his tent quickly to wake him, but just as I reached for the flap, he rushed out of it, moving quickly to the woods lining the camp. I watched his back as he retched at the base of one of the trees before standing back up and catching his breath. 

I fetched my water jug and passed it to him as he came back. ‘I’m sorry,’ I said, knowing there wasn’t much else I could offer. Knowing too that he wouldn’t want me to dwell on it.

He swished the water in his mouth and spit it out before taking another drink, swallowing fully this time. He handed the jug back. ‘This had better not last. I’ll have circles under my eyes after a few more nights of this. Circles, Olivier.’

I didn’t mention the circles already showing since we left the fortress and gave a small laugh which I'm sure sounded forced to both of us. I fluffed some of his hair where it had gone flat from sleeping despite no one being here to see it now.

He gave my wrist a small squeeze before bowing back into his tent.

I turned to the fire where Cullen was purposefully turned away, piling more logs onto the fire. I stood over him, arms crossed over my chest before he raised to full height, the need for sleep feeling too heavy over my eyes to be able to focus properly.

He turned to me then. ‘Are you all right?’ Maybe it was his tone. Maybe it was his gaze, but I could feel that he meant it. That he really wanted to know, and not because I was the Inquisitor. The chill lessened slightly.

‘I…’ I squeezed my eyes tight to try and keep the suffocating feeling from overtaking my lungs. ‘I don’t think so.’

He faced me fully then. ‘What can I do?’

It was so pure, and so…wanted. I’d been waiting for something, anything to have a hint of whether or not he felt the same as I did. Now, being so tired I couldn’t stand up straight wasn’t the way I had pictured this moment, but I put my arm on his elbow and leaned into it, his other arm coming naturally around my back. I fell into the embrace, sighing.

‘I shouldn’t be keeping you awake too,’ I said.

His muscles were tight under the thin tunic, his body warmth soaking through to the surface of my skin. ‘N—no, I’m here because I want to be.’

I took a deep breath in, taking in the smell of the fabric, the skin underneath, so warm…

He was lowering me down when I realised I had gone slack. ‘Olivier? Are you—?’

‘I’m so tired,’ my voice was slurred, ‘but I’m too scared to go to sleep.’ Had I really just said that to my Commander? What if someone overheard? Andraste’s Herald isn’t afraid.

‘Oliver…’

‘I can’t see them again.’ I covered my eyes with my hands, sitting now, my back leaning against his chest. ‘The Clan is in danger for being associated with me no matter what I do, but to have to see them undead when I sleep…’ I felt him tense behind me. ‘I can’t do this multiple times a night every single night.’

His hands rubbed up and down my arms, the touch warming me like sparks under my skin, waking me up enough to realise what we were doing. I leaned forward slightly, looking around, finding myself between Cullen’s legs, my back against his chest while he leaned against one of the legs of a table. 

‘I—I’m sorry. I’m just so tired, I must have…’ my cheeks were burning. ‘I don’t know what happened.’

His ears were as red as my cheeks must have been. ‘It’s all right. When I said that I would help, I meant it. I’m no stranger to the terrors of the surreal. And for you to have gone through what you just did in Adamant...I can’t imagine the things you must have seen.’

I pushed the heel of my hands into my eyes, leaning back again even as the skin tingled. I knew that anyone could walk out of their tents and watch us. I also knew that Leliana probably already was, but there didn’t seem much point in pretending that this wasn’t happening. Or that I didn’t want it so badly. I laid a hand over his knee. ‘Will you stay awake with me for a while?’

He rested his cheek on the top of my head, his stubble poking my scalp through my hair. I relaxed into his warmth. 'Of course.' 

Even with the pleasure of him so close to me, the strength of my fatigue was stronger, and it was when the embers were dying and the first bit of sun was beginning to turn the sky from black to grey-blue that I woke up again. I sat up, looking around, but there was so sign of anyone moving about, not even from the other clusters of tents of the soldiers. 

I turned to Cullen rubbing my thumb across his cheek, before running it down his shoulder to his arm, the muscles relaxed but pronounced. My fingers tightened around his. ‘Cullen?’ I whispered. 

His eyebrows scrunched together before he opened his eyes, looking around before settling on me. ‘Olivier?’ he said groggily, and I couldn’t help but smile at the sleepy confusion in his eyes.

‘We fell asleep,’ I said, not knowing what else to say even though my statement seemed so obvious.

He leaned forward a few inches and rubbed his lower back where it'd been leaning against the table leg.

‘I’m sorry I kept you up. And fell asleep on you.’

He refocused on my face, smile pulling his scar tight. ‘Don’t worry. I’m glad you slept.’

I stood and reached down to pull him up. When he stood, he didn’t step away from me, so close our bodies were almost touching. ‘I’m not sure I deserve that,’ I said.

He cocked his head at me, the look resembling a curious Halla so strongly that I almost laughed. ‘Why not?’

‘I know you don’t sleep either. To disturb what little you get—’

He brushed my hair out of my face, and my stomach tickled like I’d jumped from a height. ‘What you saw and did in the Fade, you did for all of us, and though you were willing, you didn’t have much choice in the matter. You’ve already done your share hundreds of times over. I can make the small sacrifice of a stiff back.’

I didn’t know what to say to that, and I looked to our feet, his large and booted and mine small and naked like always. ‘We should get back to our tents before the others wake up.’

He rubbed the back of his neck. ‘I suppose you’re right.’

I looked at him a moment longer, waiting, even though I wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted from him. Soon, I gave a smile and turned toward my tent, feeling slightly disappointed. 

Before I’d turned fully away, he grabbed my hand. As he pulled me back around, I knew. I knew what was going to happen, but I was still surprised to feel it. His lips came to mine, his arms holding me against him, one hand on my back and the other on my cheek under my hair. I fisted his shirt in my hands and kissed him back, the sudden lift in my bones making the night feel like it may have been worth it. I raised one hand to his neck, his skin hot and smooth under my fingers. As the heat from his skin spread to mine, I pressed my chest harder against his, wanting more, more.

‘Sun’s not even up and they’re already at it.’

We pulled away quickly, and I spun around to Dorian, hands on his hips looking down his nose at us.

‘I told you it would happen before equinox, Sparkler. You owe me seven sovereigns.’

He turned to him in alarm. ‘Seven? We said five!’

‘But Curly’s out of his armour. That’s another two.’

‘He’s out of his armour because he was sleeping. Not because she had removed it in a fit of passion.’

‘You didn’t specify why it had to be off.’

‘I should think that would be obvious!’

‘Seven sovereigns.’

‘Dwarves.’ Dorian spun on his heel, going back in his tent to get away from Varric or to get the money he owed him, I wasn’t sure. At the commotion, others were starting to poke their heads out of their tents, pulling on boots and rummaging in packs for food. 

I turned back to Cullen, one short moment of mental scrambling enough to know that there wasn’t anything I could say to sum up everything I was feeling. I brushed his hand with mine just a moment, just enough that it might have been a casual touch, and I hoped my eyes did enough to convey even half it.

I moved toward my tent, trying to focus on the day ahead before we started moving. I walked past Varric, who was standing at my tent entrance, looking tired but still manging to be smug. ‘He’s still watching you with that “recovering from a head injury” look on his face, V,’ he whispered out the side of his mouth

I shoved his shoulder. ‘Maybe he’s looking at you with a “how can I ruin this Dwarf’s life for interrupting an intimate moment” look on his face.’ I ducked into my tent.

His voice filtered easily through the tent fabric, ‘Nah, I’ve seen that one before, the eyebrows are different.’

I poked my head out again, locking eyes with him. ‘Does it look anything like this?’

He smiled, clutching his hand to his chest and stumbling back. ‘All right, all right, I’ll go find us some food.’

Before he got too far, I fished some bread from my pack and threw it at his retreating back before ducking back in the tent.


End file.
